IDE for Android Development

Hi all,

    I welcome u all for my next post. As i promised i am here to tell u all what is a IDE and getting started with making a IDE for developing Android Application.

Everyone say IDE. But what Actually an IDE is???

Its simple my friends. 

• IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment. 
• I think i am using some complex words here to abbreviate IDE.
•  In simple words, IDE is a place where we Work/Code also known as "Editor".
•  It is a programming environment meshed into a software program. It provides a text or code editor, a GUI builder, a compiler, interpreter and debugger.
•  Programs such as Visual Studio, Delphi and Dream Weaver are all examples of IDE's.

Android also uses a Editor or IDE for developing Android Applications.

• Android IDE is a full blown integrated development environment (IDE) for developing directly on Android devices. 
• AndroidIDE currently supports developing native Android apps using Java and/or C/C++, as well as developing cross-platform PhoneGap apps using HTML5/CSS/JavaScript. 
• AndroidIDE supports the full edit-compile-run cycle: Write code with a feature-rich editor offering advanced features like code completion, real-time error checking, refactoring, smart code navigation, and run your App with a single click. 
• AndroidIDE will turn your Android tablet with a keyboard into a real development box. 
• AndroidIDE will turn your Android Phone into a small development computer to browse and touch up your code on the go.

Eclipse IDE for Android Development:

               
Let me start telling you how u get these screens on ur system:

Basic System Configurations:

To start with:

You can start your Android application development on either of the following operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows XP or later version.
• Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later version with Intel chip.
• Linux including GNU C Library 2.7 or later.                                                                          

Next,  

 Following is the list of software's you will need before you start your Android application programming. All these are freely available on Internet for free download. 

• Java JDK5 or JDK6, JDK7. Link to download latest JDK/JRE libraries:   http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html
• Android SDK, Eclipse IDE for Java Developers (optional),    
• Android Development Tools (ADT) Eclipse Plugin (optional)
• http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html (Link to download Android SDK, ADT and Eclipse all at one place).

Once downloading SDK, ADT bundle and Eclipse from above link, u r all set to create IDE for creating your first Android Application. 

Few steps before that to be made.

Set up Environment Variables to use Jar libraries and ADT in android application developement:

• Goto System properties (Start -> My Computer -> Properties -> select Advanced option) and select Environment Variables.
• Select PATH from Edit panel and set the JAVA Home Path to ur JAVA Bin path. (Eg: JAVA_HOME=C:\jdk1.6.0_15)

Setting up SDK Manager:

• Open Eclipse.
• In Eclipse, select the menu Window->Android SDK Manager. 
• If the Android SDK location was not set up correctly within Eclipse, go to Windows-> Preferences->Android,  and set the SDK location field to the root of your SDK install directory.(SDK path is the Path where you have put ur unzipped Android SDK folder). Select that path and set SD path
• In the Android SDK manager window, sort by API level, click 

• Now Goto Windows -> Android SDK Manager . Following window opens up.

•  This window displays list of Android SDK available  beginning from oldest version to latest version on the top. Select the version you want to develop your android applications. 

What is IDE and How to Create AVD???

• Before launching the emulator, you must create an Android Virtual Device (AVD) which defines the system image and device settings used by the emulator. Some of the settings are,
• configure the version of the Android system
• size of the SD card
• set of hardware options
• emulator skin
• screen resolution, etc
• You can define several AVD with different configurations and can start them in parallel.
• Starting a new emulator is very slow, because the file system of the new AVD needs to get prepared.

How to create AVD??

• In Eclipse, select Window -> AVD Manager.
• Click New…

The Create New AVD dialog appears.

• Type the name of the AVD, for example “first_avd“.
• Choose a target.
  • The target is the platform (that is, the version of the Android SDK, such as 2.3.3) you want to run on the emulator. It can be either Android API or Google API.
• [Optional] an SD card size, say 400
• [Optional] Snapshot. Enable this to make start up of emulator faster.
  • To test this, enable this option. Get the emulator up and running and put it into the state you want. For example, home screen or menu screen. Now close the emulator. Run it again and now the emulator launches quickly with the saved state.
• [Optional] Skin.
• [Optional]You can add specific hardware features of the emulated device by clicking the New…button and selecting the feature. Refer this link for more details on hardware options.
• Click Create AVD.

How to Launch AVD??

After creating a new Android AVD, you can launch it using “Android AVD Manager”.
Open “Android AVD Manager” either from Installation directory or Eclipse IDE and follow the steps as shown below.

 

Now we all are set to start coding our first project in Android.

Please refer below video tutorials for your reference.  

IDE for Android Eclipse Setup Reference Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLLX9EtG6CI

In my next post i shall teach how to create our first Android project.

All the Best.. Good luck..


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